Learning to fly
by cheekymice
Summary: Ryan finds an unusual way to unwind on the plane.


**Disclaimer- I own Nothing.**

**Learning to fly**

"God you suck" Seth exclaimed punching Ryan in the arm.

Ryan gave his customary sideways glare and replied "Do you want to die Seth?"

"I'm just stating the obvious, Dude …You really suck at this game"

Ryan threw down the controller. "I'm bored with it now anyway"

"You just don't want me to whoop your ass again, sore loser" Seth snarked

'Don't say ass, Seth!" Kirsten had wandered in at the end of the exchange. "Dinners ready, Seth don't look at me like that. It's takeout!"

"Ha you got a reprieve there buddy. Just admit it 'The Sethmeister' is just to good for you"

Ryan caught Kirsten's eye and gave her a look that implied pure pity that this was indeed her son. Kirsten smiled and shook her head.

Seth was still babbling as they all sat down and started on the takeout Chinese.

Sandy was looking very pleased with himself Ryan thought, come to that, so did Kirsten. He looked from one to the other whilst Seth was still reliving loudly his triumph over Ryan in the computer game world.

Seth suddenly stopped talking and looked at Ryan, Then his Mom and Dad.

"Hey, what's going on? Why are you guys so cheerful?" Seth asked looking from one to the other.

"Well we were going to tell you later but now's as good time as any" Sandy beamed. "I've finished a couple of important cases at work, and I've convinced your mother to take some time off and as Christmas break is coming up we have decided a vacation is in order, Our first one together with Ryan in the family!"

Seth made a woo-hoo noise he turned to Ryan "Cool, Ryan your first Cohen family holiday, where we going?"

"After much discussion Sandy and I though we'd all go to New York for a few days." Kirsten announced excitedly.

Seth shot out of his seat and punched the air

"Alright New York, Ryan, This is gonna be awesome, we can go and see a band, really cool bands play in N.Y. We can go to the Empire State building. Hang out in some coffee-houses. Maybe even get mugged in Central Park. Dude…. It's gonna be awesome."

Sandy looked at Ryan and noticed that he didn't appear to be excited by this news, In fact he looked slightly sick.

Ryan gulped. "Erm, how we getting there?"

Seth Laughed."Walking of course you doofas, we're flying. How do you think we're getting there!"

Ryan turned a new shade of green.

Sandy smiled realizing the cause of Ryan's unease, "I forgot Ryan, you haven't been in a plane before have you. You'll be fine; It's not a too long a flight. I swear you'll love it."

Kirsten smiled sympathetically at Ryan "You'll be fine Ryan"

Hmmm... Ryan thought that's easy for you to say, he knew how much he freaked looking out of a third story window let alone going up in a freaking plane god knows how high up.

Seth was looking on gleefully. "Who'd have thought that big tough Chino Ryan would be scared of a little flying! Ooohhhh just wait till I tell Summer!"

* * *

A week later and Ryan wondered how he had got through those days. Seth had been in hyper- mode. Not only was Chrismukkah coming up but the trip to New York had tipped him over the edge.

So today was the day. Ryan was very quiet on the drive to the airport. He tried to block out all thoughts of planes falling out of the sky, running out of fuel and a thousand and one other disasters that Seth had implanted in his brain.

His stomach felt like a bunch of butterflies had taken up residence and he was alternating between feeling sick and feeling like he was going to pass out. Maybe he could just give them the slip at the airport and just slink back to the pool house and hibernate for the four days they were away. He had tried to get them to allow him to stay at home but to no avail. This was a family holiday and there was no way he was getting out of this.

* * *

O.K… Ryan thought, he could do this as he sat down in his seat. He had made this far.

Ryan had elected to sit next to Kirsten and Sandy with Seth on the seat the other side of the isle; Sandy had taken the window seat not before jokingly asking Ryan If he wanted to sit there. Ryan's pallor lightened a few shades making Sandy realize that Ryan wasn't fooling around, he really was terrified of heights, God, He felt as guilty as hell for joking around when the kid looked on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

Sandy gave Ryan a weak smile whilst Kirsten fussed around him. Offering him a piece of hard candy to combat ear popping, a drink, a pillow and when Ryan just gulped a few times, finally handing him a sick bag much to Seth's delight.

"Eww, You're not gonna puke Ryan are ya?"

Ryan just looked at Seth across the isle and returned his gaze back on the bag. God, how were you supposed to be sick in something so small? Ryan took a deep breath and prayed he wouldn't have to use it; Seth would never let him live that one down. The stewardesses were doing their pre-flight safety demonstration. Great, that's all he needed to see.

Oh God, the plane was moving now Ryan clutched the armrests. Kirsten gently took his hand in hers and was surprised when Ryan accepted it. The plane finished taxiing down the runway and started to pick up pace at an alarming rate.

"O.K Ryan, less squeezing of the hand, Sweetie" Kirsten gasped, "Ryan let go of my hand…. Owww Owww Ryan sweetie, I need my hand back now!"

Ryan had shut his eyes and was saying a frantic prayer over and over in his head, Fuck he thought, was it possible for a 16-year-old to drop down dead of a heart attack? Cause he felt pretty close to one now. He couldn't breathe; everything was starting to go foggy.

Sandy reached over and peeled Ryan's hand from his wife's. Kirsten gave a whimper and flexed her now white fingers, Then returned her attention to Ryan who had turned an alarming shade of red.

"Its O.K Ryan, just breathe honey" Kirsten rubbed his arm whilst Sandy and Seth looked on "Ryan, look at me, look at me"

Ryan gave a shit scared look at Kirsten.

Fuck! How had he forgotten to how to breathe? His body was crying out for oxygen but his brain hadn't switched out of panic mode yet.

He tried to focus on Kirsten and Sandy who were now both telling him to 'breathe breathe' they were both sounding like they were in a labor ward and Ryan was about to give birth. Oh that image did it, Ryan gave a gasp then he sucked lungful after lungful in. That felt better. His vision cleared.

Kirsten looked on concerned. "That's it, take it slow sweetie, Do you feel better now?"

After a while Ryan nodded sheepishly. "I'm sorry about your hand"

Kirsten laughed. "That's O.K I should be getting the feeling back in the next couple of days, I think I'll swap places with Sandy for the landing though if that's alright with you?"

Sandy laughed and replied. "Honey I don't think Ryan is the type of guy who will hold my hand, no matter how scared he is."

Ryan did feel better, just as long as he blocked the thought that they were go knows how many feet in the air. He just felt embarrassed maybe it hadn't been as bad a freak-out as he thought.

Seth lent over and said in a very loud voice.

"Dude that was awesome, I thought your head was going to EXPLODE!" A smattering of snickers was heard around him.

Great so it was as bad as he thought…thanks Seth for bringing that to my attention!

* * *

Ryan sat staring at the back of the chair in front; Thankfully Kirsten had stopped asking every five minuets if he was all right. Both Sandy and Kirsten had appeared to have fallen into a light sleep next to him. He could hear Seth across the isle from him, He had heard the name Summer mentioned a few times so no doubt he was regaling some poor sucker with every cute Summer story he had. He closed his eyes, if he could just nap then maybe when he woke up they would have landed and he could just get off this bloody plane.

"Ryan!"

Ryan jumped and opened his eyes. Seth had materialized next to him, he was crouching down and looking excited about something.

"Ryan I've just been speaking to the two really cute girls in front of me and one of them is totally into you man Asking if you had a girlfriend, your vital statistics, how old, the works. She's 18 and was over in Newport for a wedding!" Seth whispered

"Huh? What Seth?"

"Ryan she wants us all to meet up in N.Y…Of course I've told them all about Summer but Dude. There ain't nothing stopping you!"

Great this was all he needed, Seth arranging dates for him; He glanced over to where Seth had been sitting a few moments before. Hmmm He saw a couple of heads peering over the top of the seats a perky blond not unlike Anna and a striking bottle dyed redhead with short spiky hair. Both were quite hot.

The redhead gave Ryan a little wave and winked, and then they both sat down, vanishing from view.

"So? What ya think?" Seth asked

Ryan grinned. "Yeah. I guess we could meet up"

"I knew you'd say yes, I'll go back and give her the good news." Seth excitedly replied bounding off like a manic cupid.

Ryan decided now was the time to hit the can, he wasn't looking forward to walking to the front of the plane, he'd only just got used to the feeling of sitting down. His heart almost stopped every time the plane made a lurch downwards. Sandy had convinced him this was normal. Just turbulence… But it didn't make the feeling any better. On the plus side it would give him the opportunity to get a better look at Cathy.

As Ryan passed Seth. He took a look at where Cathy was sitting. His eyes locked with hers and she gave him a broad sassy smile. Ryan returned the smile and continued on his journey…. Damn she was hot!

----- ------ ----

As Ryan exited the small coffin like toilet to go back to his seat a force pushed him back in and slammed the door shut. Cathy was standing in front of him almost nose to nose in the small space.

"Erm... Hi" Ryan spluttered, his back squashed up against the mini sink.

Cathy's eyes sparkled. "Ryan? Isn't it? I'm Cathy! Just thought I'd say hi!"

Ryan grinned. 'Do you always accost men in bathrooms to say Hi, or just me?"

"I've got to say you're my first! I hope you don't mind"

"No objections here, just a bit surprised"

"Seth was telling me this is your first flight and you're a bit tense and not liking the whole flying thing…. and that got me thinking ways of making your first flight memorable for the right reasons."

She trailed a finger down his chest.

Ryan's voice dropped a few octaves when he realized where this was probably going. "So what did you have in mind?"

"Lets just say I've always been intrigued about the whole concept of the mile high club."

Ryan felt his stomach lurch but this time it wasn't to do with the plane. Mother of God all his prayers were being answered.

"Hmm… I was hoping you were going to say that Cathy" He tried to stay calm, even though there was a storm going on in his pants at the moment.

Ryan wrapped his arms around her and mashed his lips against hers. They kissed for about a minuet when the plane gave another lurch down, the up. Ryan stopped kissing and braced himself against the sink with a look of slight panic at Cathy.

Cathy decided now was the time to kick it up a gear, Take his mind off the lurching of the plane. O.K kneeling down was going to be tricky in a space the size of a postage stamp but she figured that she was the type of girl up to the challenge.

She slowly lowered herself to her knees tucking her legs under her, all the while looking at Ryan. God he was hot, stood there with his hands to the side of him. Gripping the edge of the sink, his muscles bulging, that wasn't the only thing bulging either. She smiled to herself when she saw the look of panic change into a look of realization and expectation as she slowly unbuttoned his fly.

Ryan just gave himself up to the moment. Being in a plane wasn't so bad after all. The only fly in the ointment was when the plane gave a somewhat violent lurch again, much worse than the other times. Ryan wasn't expecting it and flew forward slamming his forehead hardinto the wall opposite. Shit,he damn well nearly choked the girl. Thank God that Cathy seemed to be more in tune with what was going on around her than he'd been or Ryan suspected he'd be singing falsetto at the moment…. Shit, that had hurt, but funnily enough he wasn't worried about the turbulence anymore.

The logistics of an airplane screw was something that Ryan felt he needed to work on but he felt that he held his end up successfully so to speak. After much shifting and elbow banging, they had finally managed to find a comfortable position and Cathy certainly hadn't complained at his performance.

Cathy was certainly a wild one.

* * *

When they both exited the cubicle they were both extremely embarrassed to find that a small queue had formed out side, thank God theirs hadn't been the only convenience otherwise Ryan suspected that they would have been lynched.

They walked back to their seats Ryan could see Seth, head out in the isle following there progress back…his mouth open.

Ryan gave Cathy's hand a squeeze then sat down in his own seat. Thank God Kirsten and Sandy were still napping and hadn't noticed Ryan's extended absence.

Seth was looking at him with shocked expression.

"Dude I can't believe you just did that, that would never happen to me in a million years…. Do you give off special Chino pheromones or something" Seth squeaked "How did you?…. Wasn't it cramped? Dude, I'm awe-struck!"

Ryan just put his finger to his lips to shush Seth's babbling Kirsten was just waking up, and her Mom radar would notice something if Seth kept whispering franticly.

She stretched and nudged Sandy who made a grunting noise. Then he was awake

She yawned. "We should be landing soon, How are you feeling Ryan?"

"Pretty good actually." Ryan smiled at Kirsten

"You certainly seem more relaxed now." Sandy said clearly surprised.

Seth gave a stifled pig snort from his seat. "Yeah Dad, Ryan's been practicing some interesting relaxation techniques. …Haven't ya Buddy!"

Ryan just gave Seth an amused look. The seat belt signs had come on and he didn't give a damn that they were just about to land, He could see Cathy in front, she kept popping her head into the isle and giving him 'Looks'. The next four days in New York were going to be fun!

Kirsten slipped her hand into Ryan's again just as they were coming into land, No death grip this time. He turned to her and smiled.

"Ryan…. What have you done to your head!" She gasped.

Sandy's head swung round and noticed Ryan's forehead for the first time as Kirsten pushed his hair from his face.

'My god, how did you get that bruise on your head Ryan?" Kirsten asked clearly worried.

Seth gave a snort. "Yeah Ryan… care to tell the folks how you got that?"

Ryan sighed… How was he going to explain this one to them?

But hey, he had finally conquered his fear of flying.

**FIN**


End file.
